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I recently found myself needing to purchase new ID tags for a recent addition to my squad, Milo. While I fully intended to order something online that fit what I was looking for, I still needed something on a more immediate basis to cover identification for the time being, in case of some emergency.
I ended up at a local PetSmart store to peruse ID tags that I could have engraved in-store, and happened to see an interesting new addition: the YIP Smart Tag.
Fascinated, I did a brief google search and decided to take it home to try it out.
How Does the YIP Tracker Dog Tag Work?
The YIP Dog Tag tracker functions a lot like other smart tags like the Apple air tag or Samsung SmartTag. In fact, YIP has two versions that work with each type of smartphone ecosystem.
If you’re going to purchase a YIP Smart Tag for your dog, make sure you purchase the one that works with the correct tech ecosystem for your device. The Apple version will not work with a Samsung Galaxy, and vice versa.
If you can’t find the version you need in-store, each version is also available on the PetSmart website: here for the Apple Find My version, and here for the Samsung SmartThings version. You can bring online orders in to the store to use the TagWorks kiosk for engraving, just make sure you have the barcode of your tag available to scan.
After adding the YIP Tracker to your devices on your smart phone, you will be able to track its location whenever it is within range of any phone with compatible software. The Apple YIP tags will connect to any iPhone completely anonymously, and the Samsung YIP tags will connect to Galaxy phones within range to provide a location on the tag.
This functionality is essentially exactly like any of the location tags available on the market today, but YIP has the added benefit of doubling up as an ID tag, with an engravable plate that you stick onto the tag.
YIP functions with a replaceable battery, so once you set it up you will not need to replace it unless it gets lost or damaged. That said, I’d imagine that losing a tracker tag would be pretty difficult to do, since you can use your phone to locate it.
Damaging the YIP tag would also be a feat. YIP tags are water resistant and have a pretty sturdy plastic exterior that, in my experience, has stood up to a lot of abuse from a very active dog.
Does the YIP Tracker have GPS?
One thing to note is that the YIP dog tracker does not include GPS functionality. It relies on in-range smartphones to provide that information. When the tracker is outside range of a compatible smartphone, location information on your dog will not be available.
Because the YIP dog tag does not have its own GPS, tracking your dog will depend entirely on your dog being in-range of GPS-enabled smartphones, and the tag will only take location information from phones of the compatible software.
This means that if you get an Apple YIP tracker and your dog gets lost, you’ll only get location information if your dog is in-range of another iPhone user with Apple Find My, and vice versa; if you have the Galaxy version, location will only be found when in-range of a Galaxy user with Samsung SmartThings. In the first example, your dog with a YIP tag compatible with Apple Find My could pass by 30 Samsung users with SmartThings, and you would get no information on your dog’s location.
If fiercely accurate location tracking is of utmost importance for your dog, my recommendation is the FitBark GPS Tracker.
The FitBark GPS is only slightly larger than the YIP Smart Dog Tag, and does include built-in GPS functionality, which you can choose to activate for a small monthly fee as low as $5.95 per month for tracking on its own built-in SIM.
Fitbark also functions as a fitness/activity tracker, and helps you monitor your dogs sleep and other health stats, so it packs a lot into a small package.
You can read my full in-depth review of the FitBark GPS tracker in my article, Fitbark GPS Review: The Fitness Tracker for Dogs.
However, the YIP tag having no on-board GPS also means that you do not pay a recurring monthly fee on the cost of that GPS functionality, so the YIP tag can be a nice two-in-one option that is going to be more affordable for people whose budget might not allow for a designated GPS device on their dog.
How Much Does It Cost?
The YIP smart dog tag has a one-time cost of $34.99. This includes the dog ID tag engraving, which can be done at the PetSmart TagWorks kiosks whether you buy your tag in-store or online.
Similarly, a single Apple Airtag retails for $29, and a Galaxy Smart Tag is $29.99 on the Samsung website. A Tile Mate retails at $25.99 on the Tile app website, but lacks the ability to connect anonymously to other smartphones to provide out-of-range location information.
| Product | Price | Attaches to Dog Collar | Anonymous Mesh Network Location | Can Engrave with Dog ID Information |
| Yip Smart Dog Tag | $34.99 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Average TagWorks Dog ID Tag | Roughly $10 | Yes | No | Yes |
| $29 (from apple.com) | Yes | Yes | No | |
| $29.99 (from samsung.com) | Yes | Yes | No | |
| $25.99 (from thetileapp.com) | Yes | No | No |
While the YIP smart ID tag is a little on the expensive side, the double functionality of a smart tag style tracker and a designated dog ID tag makes the price pretty fair. If you were to purchase a location tag compatible with your smartphone and a designated ID tag for your dog from the TagWorks kiosk, it would definitely come out more expensive than the YIP tag alone.
With YIP only being about $5 more than the branded location tags themselves, I would say that $34.99 is a perfectly reasonable price to pay for a dog tag with built in location tracking.
Our Experience with YIP
My experience with the YIP smart dog tag has been reasonable so far. It serves the purpose of carrying my dog’s identification info, and I like that if he gets lost I do have a backup method outside his FitBark GPS tracker, in the unlikely event something like a random network outage happens at the worst possible time. It certainly can’t hurt to double-up, especially when the tracker already serves a purpose as an ID tag. I like the double functionality.
Getting the tag setup was actually remarkably easy. When you buy the tag, stop at the TagWorks kiosk on your way out, or take it into a PetSmart store for engraving if you purchased online.
The ID tag portion of the YIP tag can be placed in the TagWorks machine and engraved independently. Then, you press the ID tag portion into the nook on the smart tag portion, where an included adhesive layer keeps it snug and safe.
From there, you remove the pull tab from the YIP smart tag battery, and it will make a brief beeping sound to indicate that it is in pairing mode. It’ll be in pairing mode for ten minutes, which is more than enough time to get set up with either Apple Find My or Samsung SmartThings, depending on which device you have.
The whole process getting set up was very quick and easy; it’s about the same process you might expect from a branded location tag.
From there, I attached the tag to my dog’s collar like any other, and we were all set up.
Location is, again, dependent on being in-range to a compatible device, but so far it has been fairly accurate, and I like the added benefit in the package of a regular dog ID tag.
The tag is lightweight and doesn’t seem to bother my dog at all. While I’m using this tag on my largest dog, a 75-lb Doberman mix, based on the tag’s size I would say that it is compatible with dogs as small as 5 lbs.
We are pretty active, especially Milo the Doberman mix, and the YIP dog tag is still working as expected despite daily activity and regular outings.
We haven’t gone swimming with it, and I’m not sure how it would hold up being actually submerged in water, but we’ve done baths, walking in Washington State rain, and he’s stomped through mud and puddles with no noticeable change in the tag’s functionality.
It’s all gone pretty well so far.
Is the YIP Tracker Dog Tag Worth It?
As an only measure for tracking your dog, I think the YIP smart dog tag faces several competitors who offer products that simply offer way more bang for your buck, like the aforementioned FitBark GPS, which is a little more expensive but includes its own reliable (optional) GPS tracking.
While it can’t be argued that the FitBark GPS my dog wears is significantly more reliable, for the price I think YIP is a perfectly good product that does exactly what it says it will.
However, compared to other smart tags with similar technology, like the Airtag from Apple or the SmartTag from Samsung, I think Yip is by far the superior product for the purpose of attaching to a dog collar. It is a location tracking tag that doesn’t look like one, and I appreciate that you don’t have to purchase both an ID tag and a location tracking tag for your dog separately.
All-in-all, I’d say that the YIP smart tag is absolutely worth it for the price you pay. It’s a nice added functionality to an otherwise necessary product (the ID tag) and it offers a much better package than attaching an Airtag or SmartTag to a dog collar.
YIP is not without its shortcomings, but it does exactly what it sets out to do, and does a good job of it.
